


This Only Happens in Romance Novels Chpt. 2

by Garafraxa



Series: This Only Happens in Romance Novels [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, bookshop au, bookworm!Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-22
Updated: 2013-11-22
Packaged: 2018-01-02 07:50:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1054300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garafraxa/pseuds/Garafraxa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>" Castiel totally did not spend the next three days staring at the sticky note, wondering if he should text or not.<br/>Nope.<br/>Definitely not." </p><p>Gabriel is an awesome big brother. Dean decides to start reading and Led Zeppelin is Castiel's new favourite band.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Only Happens in Romance Novels Chpt. 2

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guy!  
> So remember when I said there was going to be a new chapter Sunday or Monday. Hah because I sure don't. I'm super sorry. I'm a high school student and everything is really hectic right now. I'm going to try to write a chapter every weekend.  
> This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I hope you like it!

 Castiel totally did not spend the next three days staring at the sticky note, wondering if he should text or not.

Nope.

Definitely not.

Okay maybe just a little. But he definitely did not memorize the curves of Dean's sloppy writing. He did not know the numbers off by heart and he most definitely didn't wonder what exactly getting a beer entailed. Did Dean just want to be friends or did he want to be more than friends? These questions did not roll through his mind 24/7.

 He did not have a crush on this gorgeous man.

Except that he completely did.

It's not like Castiel knew anything about Dean. He didn't know what his favourite band was, he didn't know what he did for a living, he didn't even know what his favourite book was! All Castiel knew was that he was beautiful and that something seemed to scream “THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT” inside of him. It was terrifying.

On a Wednesday morning, Castiel found himself sitting behind the mystery bookshelf. The shop opened in an hour and he was preparing for the day to come when he got distracted by the pink post it note. The one with Dean Winchester's number and a message that may or may not have been an invitation to go on a date. While Castiel straightened up books and washed down the small amount of table's in the shop, he could not stop glancing over to the note. The benefit to having bright pink post it notes is that they stand out again almost ever colour.

Now here he was, sat on the floor with Dean's number in one hand and his cell phone in the other.

Had he waited too long to text? Was it too early to text? If he did end up texting him, what would be appropriate to say? These questions rolled through Castiel's mind over and over again, until he decided to do what a stereo typical teenage girl would do, he called his older sibling for advise.

Gabriel was probably still asleep. His job allowed him to sleep in to eleven thirty and still get to work fifteen minutes early. He owned a record company that was starting to make a big name for itself. They had recently signed a six-teen year old boy that sang creepy love songs that made every girl in Toronto's heart swoon. Castiel didn't understand how “While you're asleep I'll watch your breath rise and fall cuz girl I'm falling for you.” could possibly be romantic. If you said this to a random woman in the street you wouldn't get her into bed, you would get a restraining order.

Creepy lyrics aside, Gabriel loved his job and that's all that mattered. He was the only sibling that still spoke to him. The rest had decided that he was an abomination and should go to hell. Their parent's had been extremely religious and Castiel being gay had been considered an embarrassment. At sixteen they kicked him out. Gabriel had a two bedroom apartment and moved Castiel in. The family tried their hardest not to associate with Gabriel either. Gabriel however, was not the type to be ignored. He still came to Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner. He would just get glares, Castiel would be kicked out. Those had been rough years.

“Why the hell are you calling me Castiel. Do you even know what friggen time it is right now? Cuz I sure as hell don't. If you're calling about another one of your stupid book characters dieing, I will come over and kill you.” Gabriel was very grumpy in the mornings. It was almost comical.

“Hello Gabriel. It is currently nine o' four am if my shops clock is correct. I assure you that I am not calling to rant about another fictional character's death. That was once and even you will agree that Fred's death was uncalled for.”

“What do you want Castiel?” Gabriel's voice was flat. Obviously he was annoyed. Castiel wondered if maybe he shouldn't have called.

“I am in some sort of a romantic dilemma.”

“AT NINE O CLOCK IN THE MORNING?”

Castiel calmed Gabriel down and proceeded to tell him about Dean and the neon pink note.

“Ohhhh this is serious. He said he want's to have a beer with you? That means he wants your dick. I'm coming over. I'll be over in a half hour.”

Castiel realized how bad of an idea this was when Gabriel arrived. The doors had been open for less than five minutes when Gabriel came prancing in. He had with him two cups of steaming hot coffee from the Tim Hortons across the street. Castiel took his with one sugar and Gabriel had six sugar, four milk. It was a little ridiculous.

Castiel asked Gabriel why he had brought them and Gabriel just shouted “ IN CELEBRATION”.

Gabriel sat in Castiel's chair and swirled around. Often times he wondered if people thought that Gabriel was the younger sibling. Castiel was much more quiet and reserved while Gabriel was the type to spin around in a chair making noises. Finally he stopped spinning. His lips were pursed and he had his finger tips touching under his chin.

“Now tell me about this Dean boy.” Gabriel said in his most boss like tone. It was hilarious. Gabriel may have been a pain but Castiel still loved him.

“Dean is different. He's not from here and he's gorgeous. Not in the movie star way but in the way that his smile lights up a room. I just really want to get to know him.”

“ Dude I haven't seen you this excited since you met Balthazar. It's been years man, time for you to get back on the horse.”

Castiel felt something inside of him hurt. Every time someone brought up Balthazar, it felt like a punch in the gut. No one knew what actually happened, so it wasn't their fault if they brought it up.

“So are you gonna text him or no?”

“I don't know. He gave it to me three days ago. Isn't it too late?”

“Dude no. It's never too late.” That's when Castiel realized that he'd left his phone beside the cash register and Gabriel was about to grab it. This was about to get very embarrassing very quickly. Castiel went to grab the phone from his brother but failed miserably.

“HA-HA little brother I have won this round. You will thank me when you and him are sucking face behind the romance shelf!”

Unfortunately for Castiel, Gabriel was a fast typer. Before Castiel could get close enough to him to grab it, he had finished typing the message. He gave up without a fight and handed the phone over. Cringing, Castiel read what Gabriel had sent.

“Hai sexxxxi boi this is the bookstore slut wanna come over later and fukkkk???”

It was worse than Castiel thought. Much worse. He was a slower typer than Gabriel and tried to message Dean as fast as possible.

“Hello Dean. This is Castiel. The previous message was not me. My childish brother sent it. I apologize.”

Looking up from his phone, Gabriel was leaning back in the chair and had his feet up on the desk. He looked pleased with what he had done. Castiel gave him the death glare, but all he did was smile back.

Gabriel took a long sip of his coffee and didn't break eye contact with Castiel. It was something Gabriel almost always did when Castiel was angry. He always tried to make it into a game, see who will look away first.

Today Gabriel looked away first. “Well Castiel , I will leave you here to deal with your boy toy. Just remember, if he wont wrap it, don't tap it.” Gabriel said almost completely serious as he stood up and began walking to the door with his coffee. Sometimes he stayed a long time, other times he didn't.

Castiel slowly sat in his desk.

Gabriel had written something on the back of Dean's sticky. He couldn't talk to Castiel about family and feeling so he often wrote him notes instead of saying things. “I haven't seen you this happy in a long time. I hope everything works out. I love you and am so proud of you. -Gabe”

Castiel loved his brother. A lot.

 

An hour later Castiel's phone went off. It was Dean.

“Hey man. Thought you'd never text. My brothers a pain in the ass too.”

It was short, yet sweet. Castiel had no idea how to respond. “How to keep conversations going” by Alex Lackret had not proved to be successful when it came to texting. Thankfully Dean responded before he had to freak out over what to say.

“Listen Cas, I'm kinda in between jobs right now and I'm super bored. I was wondering if you could maybe suggest a few books or something? We could go out for dinner after.”

“How To Keep Conversations Going” had not prepared him for that one. At this point Castiel was very close to hyperventilating. What if Dean liked him? What if he'd thought about Castiel as much as Castiel had thought about him?

While Castiel was internally screaming about the fact that Dean Winchester, the most beautiful human being on the earth, may possibly be interested in him, he remembered something. The night before the delivery man came and he had decided to organize it tonight. He couldn't go out with Dean. He had to sort and put out the books tonight. With a slight frown, he typed his response to Dean's proposal.

“Feel free to stop by the shop anytime today. As for dinner, I'm afraid a new shipment of books came in that I must go through this evening. Any other time would be lovely.”

Hopefully Dean wouldn't take the message personally. He just had to do this tonight. He wasn't going to be happy about it but it had to be done.

“Cas are you going to be the only one doing it tonight?”

He was. Castiel was the only one who worked in the shop. He didn't really need anyone else. Everything that needed to be done, he could do it himself. If he couldn't he'd call Gabriel and ask for some help. Having a brother who had unlimited sick days and lot's of friends that liked Castiel was nice. He didn't like calling Gabriel though. He would only call if he was ridiculously sick or if he needed to move something like one of the big bookshelves.

“Yes.”

“Why don't I help you then. I'll bring dinner.”

Castiel chewed on his lip as he wondered about this. He considered all of the possible pros and cons of Dean coming and helping.

Pros:

Dean Winchester would be there

It would get done faster

Dean would be there

He would get free food

He would get to know Dean better

This was a kind of date

Dean might be interested

Cons:

He didn't know Dean very well and he might be a serial killer

....

..........

.............

 

The pros outweighed the cons and so Castiel texted back a yes. The two of them texted details of when the shop closed and where was the best Chinese take-out place in town. For the rest of the day, Castiel wore a large smile. Some of his regular customers noticed and said that it was a good look on him. Maybe this was his chance to live outside of the adventures in books. Maybe he could go have his own adventure. Even if Dean wasn't interested (Castiel hoped with his whole heart that he was), he might still get a friend out of this. That's what he needed.

~*~

At 7:00 Castiel sat at his desk, staring at the door. Dean was due any minute and he was /excited/ about seeing him. He felt like every cliche teenager in love from the unrealistic romance novels that he was forced to sell. Outside it was snowing very lightly. Flecks of white against the empty trees in the park across the street. It was actually quite beautiful. That was one of the many reasons he loved Canada. The snow and ice covered trees. When he walked outside he could see his breath and that was almost as magical as the paper books he sought comfort in. 

Maybe that's why dean came. Maybe he too found comfort in the ice and snow. 

When he was a child, his sibling and him would build snowmen and have snowball fights in the large yard of their home. They were so happy back then. Castiel still felt like he was loved back then. Their parents were never home but Anna, Castiel, Gabriel, Lucifer and Micheal would all sneak into Micheal's room (he had the biggest bed) and talk until the sun came up. They never got caught by the nanny because she was always passed out drunk when their parents were gone. Back then it was them against the world. Now he was alone. 

Castiel was brought back to the real world by the bell on the door. Dean Winchester had just walked in. Castiels breath caught in his throat at the sight of him. His green eyes seemed _greener_ and he just looked wonderful. His leather jacket was covered in random snowflakes. He was smiling that big smile and Castiel wanted to kiss him right then and there. 

"Hey Cas." 

"Hello Dean."

  
~*~

“You actually don't own a tv.” Dean laughed five minutes after they had gotten into the apartment. Dean was standing by the door still, with an incredulous look on his face. Castiel was cleaning off the coffee table which was covered in sheets of paper. He looked at Dean, really looked at him. His smile was genuine. The eye crinkling kind and Castiel was taken aback by how beautiful he was.

“No. I don't believe I would use it and it would just take up more space. I do however have a laptop that I use to order books and occasionally even use it for personal purposes. You can remove your coat if you would like.”

Dean flicked a flirtatious smile at the words “personal purposes”. “Didn't think you were a porn guy Cas.” He winked at him and Castiel's eyes widened.

“I don't uh watch porn.” he mumbled. Dean winked at him again and put his coat on the rack by the door. He was wearing an old faded Led Zeppelin t-shirt and jeans that were tight in all the right places. Castiel pulled his pale blue cardigan tighter around him, suddenly feeling self conscious about how he looked. He was wearing a pair of old and slightly too big jeans and a blue cardigan over a white t-shirt. He even still had his name tag on.

“What does 'personal purposes'” - he made air quotations - “mean exactly?” He walked over and sat next to Castiel on the old brown couch, propping his feet onto the now clean coffee table.

“My brother set me up an account on the website facebook. I had no choice in the matter. I occasionally check it to simply see what people are up to. Gabriel says that I'm living vicariously through people I haven't spoken to since high school.”

Dean burst out laughing. “You, mr. Angel name book lover, are on facebook. That's the best thing I've heard all day.” 

Castiel blushes. For a few seconds the stare into each others eyes and its insane because Dean is so close and his eyes are so green. Deans eyes flick to Castiel's lips and then back to his eyes and soon Deans eyes are scanning over every detail. He looks as if he is trying to memorize every minute detail on Castiels face. From the lines on his forehead to the day old stubble on his face. For a few precious moments they simply look at each other. Castiel takes in Dean's eyes and nose and lips and beings to wonder how something so beautiful could end up on his couch.

Finally he looks away and gets up to grab the take out bag from by the door. When he gets back he makes a comment about how he could forget the food and hands Castiel his Styrofoam take out container.

They sit, stiff, beside each other and eat their food. Nothing can be heard other than the munching of food and the sirens of a far away police car. The silence is finally broken when Castiel drops his chopsticks onto the ground and Dean starts chuckling and reaches down to grab them. Castiel went to grab the fallen chopsticks at the same time and smash their heads together. They both jump back, holding their head. A moment of awkward staring happens.

“You're really something different, aren't you?” Dean whispers and hands Castiel his chopsticks.

They eat dinner and talk about life. Dean talks about his little brother Sam who is currently attending the University of Toronto. He want's to be a lawyer and Dean's so proud. Castiel talks about his brother Gabriel and his record company. They don't talk about anything serious and it's wonderful. Actually having a conversation with someone is wonderful. Castiel thinks that Dean is a great person and finds himself hanging on every word he says.

After dinner they begin working on the books. They have to sort three large boxes of books into genre and then in alphabetical order of the authors last name. It usually takes Castiel all night, but with Dean there it might only take a few hours.

 

The brown boxes are on the kitchen table. When Castiel grabs one of the heavy,  _heavy_ boxes, Dean smirks and grabs the other two. Obviously trying to show off his manly strength. Castiel snorts and drops the boxes on the floor. It's easier to do it there and Castiel honestly believes it's more fun if done on the floor. Then again he finds sorting through books exciting. Dean places his boxes next Cas' and sits down next to him. They both begin sorting through the books.

Dean asked about some books. Others he laughed at. For the most part though, it was quiet. It was more comfortable silence than awkward. Castiel liked it. It was almost as personal as it was when they sat on the couch just talking. Maybe even more.

After a half hour or so, Dean and Castiel decide that they should definitely take a stretch break. They'd finished one and half boxes. Dean's looking through Castiel's cd's when Castiel asks if he would like anything to drink. Dean asks for a beer, thanks and Castiel is very happy that his brother comes over so often. He has a few bottles in the fridge and pulls one out for the both of them. He usually doesn't drink but he might as well if Dean is.

“Dude do you have anything good!? I mean like Zeppelin or Metallica or shit even Floyd.” Dean was staring at him with expectant eyes. Growing up, Castiel hadn't been allowed to listen to music played on the radio (all they listened to was hymns or Christian music) let alone hard rock. Castiel stared at the CD player and desperately tried to remember if he had anything that Dean would like.

“Would Simon and Garfunkel or Bob Dylan be considered good?” Castiel asked inquisitively. Tilting his head slightly to the side. He didn't do it on purpose. It just sort of happened.

Dean looked everywhere but at him and muttered “Well yea I guess but they're not great. Zeppelin is amazing.”

Castiel started to say something but Dean cut him off with a gigantic grin “ I've got a bunch of CD's in my car. I'll be right back!”  
Dean quickly pulls on his boots and was running down the stairs that lead to Castiel's apartment before Castiel could ask what was happening. Castiel just stood staring at the empty door way until Dean came running back up the stairs with an old CD in his hand. He quickly took his boots off and ran over to him. Grabbing Castiel by the hand, he pulled him towards the couch and pushed him onto it. Castiel was blushing from being manhandled. Dean smiled and turned Castiel's old CD player on.

He turned around just as the guitar started playing and slowly walked over to Castiel, mouthing the words the entire way. At one point he even did air guitar.

  
 _You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin',_  
 _I'm gonna send you back to schoolin',_  
 _Way down inside honey, you need it,_  
 _I'm gonna give you my love,_  
 _I'm gonna give you my love._  
 _Wanna Whole Lotta Love  
  
_ Dancing now, he grabbed Castiel by the hands and pulled him up. Dean started moving his hips around like that's what they were made to do. He was still mouthing the words passionately. Castiel stared at him with wide eyes and was very nervous and had no idea what he was doing.  
  
 _You've been learnin', baby, I've been yearnin',_  
 _All them good times, baby, baby, I've been yearnin',_  
 _Way, way down inside honey, you need it,_  
 _I'm gonna give you my love... I'm gonna give you my love._  
  
Dean moved one of his hands to Castiel's hips and tried to show him what to do. Dean was so warm and Led Zeppelin was so sexy and Castiel was blushing. Soon they're hips were moving in unison. And Castiel was blushing but was loving every second of it. The music was playing loudly and almost drowned out the city sounds. Dean grabbed both of Castiel's hands and put them above their heads.

  
 _You've been coolin', baby, I've been droolin',_  
 _All the good times I've been misusin',_  
 _Way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love,_  
 _I'm gonna give you every inch of my love,_  
 _Gonna give you my love._

 

Dean smirked at Castiel and let go of his hands. He used his now free hands to grab Castiel's face and kiss him. It was wet and hot and Castiel was screaming internally. Dean tasted like apples and cinnamon. Deans lips were fast and Castiel was quickly coming undone. He hadn't been kissed like this in ages, hell he'd never been kissed like this. 

Castiel moved his hands to Dean's hips and pulled them towards his, deepening the kiss. It was so warm and Castiel felt wanted for the first time in years.

Dean pulled away and looked deep into his eyes and started singing along with song. Castiel silenced him by pulling him into another kiss.  
  
 _Way down inside... woman... You need... love._  
  
 _Shake for me, girl. I wanna be your backdoor man._  
 _Keep it coolin', baby._

 

They didn't get the boxes sorted that night.

 


End file.
